Make that a hat trick for Mayor Olivia Chow’s “outrageous” snubbing of Toronto’s under siege Jewish community.
Missing the Oct. 7 commemoration is beyond the pale of normal political behaviour or basic human decency and can’t be glossed over.For a mayor to not attend Toronto’s candlelight vigil to remember the 1,200 people slaughtered at the hands of Hamas one year ago on Oct. 7 is the final straw when it comes to Chow’s disrespect for Toronto’s Jewish community.
“It’s pretty telling that the mayor couldn’t bother to be there,” said councillor Brad Bradford, who ran against Chow in the mayoral byelection in 2023 and is one of the names being bandied about to challenge her again in 2026. “The (Israel) flag-raising she characterized as divisive, and she didn’t go to walk for Israel (because she was busy).”
But this was not something any politician would never miss. Everybody knew the date. That the mayor wasn’t noticeable at the Toronto vigil to commemorate the one-year-anniversary of the evil Oct. 7 mass slaughter in Israel by Hamas was noticed.
The tens of thousands who gathered to remember the slain, wounded, kidnapped and missing knew the mayor was absent.
“As far as I could tell the mayor was not there,” councillor James Pasternak told the Toronto Sun. “I didn’t see her, and she wasn’t in the elected official’s tent. I was there from 5 (p.m.) to 9 (p.m.). I did ask her last week whether she was coming, and she didn’t know.”
No one saw her there. The mayor’s office has acknowledged the request for comment but so far as not revealed just where she was during the riveting memorial at the Barry and Honey Sherman campus of the United Jewish Appeal Foundation at Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave.
What is known is Premier Doug Ford did come. Former Mayor John Tory, too. Amongst the many elected officials were MP Kevin Vuong, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie. provincial cabinet ministers Stephen Lecce, Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPs Marco Mendicino, Ya’ara Saks and councillors Bradford, Josh Matlow and Dianne Saxe.
So where was Chow? Her office has yet to comment.
In fairness, Chow on Oct. 4 put out a statement on social media which she expressed the concern over rising rates of anti-Semitic hate crimes in the city and wrote “hate against any people practising their faith is not welcome here. Antisemitism, islamophobia, hate and violence in all its forms, are not welcome here.”
Actions always speak louder than words. Like Toronto Police officers upset the mayor didn’t come to the hospital when one of their own was shot, many in the Jewish community won’t forget this snub.
When she missed the walk of Israel in June, Chow nonsensically told Newstalk 1010 morning man John Moore “there was the fire (at St. Anne’s Church)” and “I just can’t be everywhere at the same time.”Chow’s social media shows she manages to get to, and dress up in costume for, many events including this past weekend’s Nuit Blanche celebration.
The mayor missed something very special in this vigil in that it was a peaceful example of good people coming together for the betterment of all society.
Unlike at Queen’s Park where people, on the very day to remember the slain, were masked up like villains and thugs from a horror movie and letting off smoke cannisters while chanting about the end of Israel, here was a collective of Torontonians praying for the safe and happy lives for all humanity — ironically under the protection of heavy police detail offering a reminder of the danger Jews face.
“Do you mind telling the Jewish community of Toronto what was so important that you couldn’t bother to attend the Jewish community’s official memorial ceremony for Oct. 7?” asked Rafi Yablonsky, national executive director of the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation.
Fair question.
The latest known sighting of the mayor was her at a meeting at the Crooked Cue on Bloor St. W. in Etobicoke, meeting with the Balance on Bloor people from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Organizer Cody MacRae said both the mayor and councillor Amber Morley were there for the full 90 minutes listening to concerns of residents looking for an alternative plan than to continue with bike lanes on the roads there.
On until 9 p.m, there was plenty of time to get there.
“Naturally, we were disappointed that the mayor did not attend,” said Pasternak. “This was an event of somber mourning and remembrance and was not a political event. The Jewish community has been under siege and targeted for a year by angry mobs and there must be a strong statement against this harassment.”
Bradford called Chow missing the vigil “outrageous” and a dereliction of duty.
“You have got to show up and got to be the mayor for everyone,” said Bradford. “You have got show up for all your residents and there were 20,000 Torontonians there last night who were grieving and suffering and there is an element of comfort when you see the people leading the city.”
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Bradford added that politicians wanted to send a message that “you are not alone; you are not forgotten, and we stand with you. Her absence sends the exact opposite message.”
Perhaps there was another grilled cheese festival, like Chow posted about attending on X on the same weekend as Toronto Jews were marching to remember their hostages.